Created in 2015 under the impetus of WHO-TDR, then expanded in 2018, WARN/CARN-TB has been a real catalyst in the fight against TB in the West and Central African regions. Indeed, as a platform bringing together the national TB programs of the 27 countries in the two regions, WARN/CARN-TB has greatly contributed to cooperation, mutual support and harmonization of TB control strategies on a regional scale. In addition, the opportunity given to partners to mobilize all the countries in the sub-region through a single interlocutor has facilitated their interventions in the fight against TB, both in terms of support for programmatic activities and research. WARN/CARN-TB has thus helped to strengthen the strategic positioning of national TB programs, by juxtaposing a regional approach to TB control with the national activities of each country.
In view of these successes, and with a view to replicating a similar experience in the East and Southern African regions, WHO/TDR, in collaboration with the Ethiopian National TB Program, has initiated the establishment of a regional network for TB control in East and Southern Africa. This network, which will bring together the national TB programs of the two regions, aims to federate individual efforts and give a collective dimension to the fight against TB, in order to accelerate progress towards the global strategic objectives of TB eradication in East and Southern Africa.
A first preparatory meeting was held by the countries of the region online on April 04, 2023, and participants showed great enthusiasm for the idea of the regional network. A face-to-face meeting to establish the network is scheduled for May 10-12, 2023 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The WARN/CARN-TB executive secretariat will play an active role in establishing the network.